Blog #5: I used to think..../ Now I know...

I used to think:

• I knew what PBL was, and was using it regularly in my classroom. 
• PBL was best suited for higher achieving students only.
• PBL would be easier to incorporate in elementary school because all subjects are integrated. 
• PBL is much easier for the teacher than planning day-by-day lessons and activities.

Now I know:

• I was assuming that my end of unit projects was considered PBL. During the last school year, I wrote what I believed to be a PBL on rates, ratios, and proportions that turned out to be more along the lines of independent learning.  There were some of the PBL required criteria such as collaboration, conferencing, and reflection, but it was not a true PBL experience. Now I know PBL is learning through completing the project.
• PBL is effective with low-income students if you build stamina and agency within the students prior to the PBL experience. Offering inquiry-based experiences in small chunks helps to build the stamina needed to complete a full experience. Low-income students are quick to give up, so it is important to build the stamina along the way.
• PBL is just as easy to incorporate in middle school if you have a cooperative team who will help you. I do not understand all of the science, social studies, and language arts standards, but my teammates are very willing to help me understand what the standards are and how I can incorporate them into the math class.
• PBL is much harder than I anticipated! I spent much more time planning the PBL experience than I have on my other units. It is definitely not the "easy way out" of lecturing. The planning is much more complex and the outcome is much greater.